


i've outrun the fears that chased

by helenblqckthorn



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: ALL THE GOOD STUFF, Caring, During Blue Lily Lily Blue, Friendship, Gansey being Gansey, Gen, Pre-The Raven King, this is basically ronan and gansey's mad dash to the courthouse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-27 07:56:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17158199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helenblqckthorn/pseuds/helenblqckthorn
Summary: “What?” He said, worried. Ronan was staring into the distance, clearly having figured something out, and was thinking about it intently.“I’ve just remembered—” Ronan said, cutting himself off abruptly. “When was Parrish’s court date?”during blue lily, lily blue: what happened at school while adam was getting ready for his court case, and the sprint to the courthouse that followed.





	i've outrun the fears that chased

**Author's Note:**

> hey it's me again, i have no self control.
> 
> i love gansey, ronan and adam's dynamic so much so this is what followed after rereading bllb!!

It was eight forty-five, and Adam Parrish was officially late for school.

That was unusual in itself, as Adam was exact and punctual about most things in his life, especially since he’d moved out of his parent's place in the trailer park. In fact, Gansey thought, he hadn’t seen Adam late or absent from school since that awful night where they had fought, Adam and his father had fought, and Adam’s father and Ronan had fought.

Gansey frowned. Something was amiss.

He turned to the side while their housemaster took register, and whispered to Ronan: “Have you seen Adam?”

Ronan, by some miracle, was in school that day. He was lying over his desk, hands fiddling with the underside of it over the opposite side. His expression was bored, as it usually was in school. “Parrish? No, not today. Why?”

Gansey leaned back in his chair, tapping his pen to his lower lip. “He’s not here.”

“Relax, man,” Ronan said, sounding uninterested. He sat up and stretched above his head, the bones popping in his shoulders and back. “His shitbox probably broke down on the way to school or something.”

If you didn’t know Ronan well, you’d think he was blase and uncaring about the well-being of his friend. But those close to him, like Gansey, could see the slight furrow in his eyebrow, the quick, seemingly casual glance out the window, as if Adam might pop up behind it and start waving at them.

“You’re probably right,” Gansey murmured, but still unease wore at his mood.

“Boys!” Their housemaster rapped the board with his knuckles. “I can’t hear anyone’s response if you don’t be silent.”

“Sorry, sir,” Gansey said smoothly, but it was without his usual winning smile.

“Alright,” he said gruffly, and then called out another name. “Parrish, Adam.”

“Absent,” Ronan said, scratching his pen into his desk, no doubt scribbling an obscene joke.  

The professors eyebrows lifted. “Really? Hm.”

“See?” Gansey hissed. “Even the teacher thinks it’s odd.”

“If he doesn’t turn up by second period,” Ronan said, suddenly looking serious as he took in the teacher’s reaction to Adam’s absence. “We’re looking for him.”

Gansey nodded, clasping his hands together on the desk. With Adam’s role as the Magician, and the dangers that came with Cabeswater and the quest, any number of dangerous things could happen to him.

***

It was second period, and Adam still hadn’t turned up.

Ronan was visibly worried now, his eyebrows permanently narrowed and his usual scowl more intense.

“Where is he?” He hissed to Gansey, wary of their world history teacher.

Gansey shrugged impatiently. “How would I know?”

“I don’t know!”

“You’re the one that’s connected to Cabeswater. Can you feel anything?” Gansey suddenly thought, and asked him.

Ronan concentrated for a moment, eyes closing and expression relaxing. His eyelids twitched, fractionally, and his hands rested flat on the table.

Then he opened his eyes, frustration clouding them. “Nothing.”

“What?”

“I said, nothing.” Ronan said, annoyed. “I can’t feel anything.”

Gansey looked at his desk for a moment, thinking. “Did he have any extra work, or was called in?”

Ronan shook his head. “He would’ve texted or called.”

“Check your phone,” Gansey said, sliding his out of his pocket, out of sight of the teacher. He clicked on his inbox, but there were no new messages. His last one to Adam had been about picking him up from work to go to the forest.

“Nothing to me,” Ronan said, and Gansey stared in amazement as he actually took his phone it of his pocket, unlocked it, and checked his messages.

“Well?” He said to Gansey, impatiently, and Gansey realised he’d been staring, and shook himself out of it.

“I’ll call Blue when we’re out of class,” he said, resignedly. “And if she doesn’t know, we’re going.”

After world history, Gansey and Ronan stopped outside of the classroom, in the side of the hall, and waited while Gansey’s phone rang, after dialling Blue’s number.

She picked up. “300 Fox Way, this is Blue Sargent.”

“Hi, Blue,” Gansey said hurriedly, not having time to stop and think about how her professional tone made him feel. “Have you heard from Adam lately?”

“Adam?” Blue said, surprised by the urgency of his voice. “No, why?”

Gansey’s stomach dropped further, and he dove his hand in his pocket. “He hasn’t come into school today, and we don’t know where he is.”

“Oh,” Blue exhaled, understanding. “Well, have you asked the office?”

Gansey snapped his fingers, eyes alight as he looked at Ronan and mouthed office. Ronan nodded at once, understanding. “That’s a brilliant idea, Jane, thank you.”

“Anytime, Gansey.” He detected a softness as she said his name, but pulled the phone away from his ear and hung up.

Together they sped-walked down the corridor, not quite urgent enough for a run, until Ronan stopped suddenly, in the middle of the hall, causing Gansey to almost crash into the back of him.

“What?” He said, worried. Ronan was staring into the distance, clearly having figured something out, and was thinking about it.

“I’ve just remembered—” Ronan said, cutting himself off abruptly. “When was Parrish’s court date?”

“Oh, Christ,” groaned Gansey, eyes wide.

They ran to the office.

“Excuse me,” Gansey said to the administration lady at the window, quickly, not having any spare time for niceties. “Has Adam Parrish called in today for absence?”

The woman smiled at him, recognising Gansey immediately, and typed away at her computer, fingers flying over the keyboard. “Let me see… yes, he has called in to take the day off.”

She turned back to them and smiled. Gansey managed a brief flash of teeth before asking: “Did he say why?”

She turned back to the computer, typing once more. Ronan’s foot was tapping impatiently on the floor behind him.

“I believe he said something about a courthouse,” the woman said, scanning the computer closely. “Yes, a court case.”

“Fuck,” Gansey said aloud, and she looked shocked. He was shocked at himself. Ronan looked shocked. The students hanging around the lockers nearest to them looked shocked.

“I mean—” Gansey cleared his throat. “Would it be alright if we took a few hours out of school to see him?”

The office lady looked annoyed, until she caught a glimpse of Ronan’s terrifying glare, and she squeaked, tapping something into her computer and nodding. “Of course!”

Gansey grabbed Ronan’s hand, and pulled him out of the school doors, sprinting down the sidewalk, crashing into a few people who were mulling around.

It was a ten minute walk to the courthouse, Gansey calculated in his head. They’d make it in six if they sprinted.

He cast a quick glance behind his shoulder at Ronan as they ran, and winced. His tie was loose around his neck, his shirt untucked, his laces untied.

“Tie your tie!” Gansey yelled, as they continued to run, now reaching the high street. Ronan glanced down at his tie, surprised, but started to straighten it out and knot it immediately.

Gansey did a mental check of his appearance, knowing that he would need to look and sound his best to charm the pants off of the judge, whom he prayed was Judge Harris and not Mathers, as he was family friends with him.

He knew that Adam would either be furious, or glad for him intervening, there was no in between. But remembering the bruises, the fear in his eyes, the flinch when he thought someone raised a hand, made his insides boil in anger and made him speed up.

He glanced back at Ronan, who a little behind him, having stopped to tie his shoes, and his shirt was tucked in, the neatest he’d seen it in a long time, but was still struggling with his tie, running whilst looking down on it in frustration.

Gansey turned around and started to run backwards, grabbing Ronan’s tie and looping it around his neck again, flattening it, then doing a Windsor knot in possibly the shortest period of time anyone has ever tied a tie in. He finished it with a tug of the tie, then looked up at Ronan’s face as he ran backward, almost tripping backwards in his haste. Ronan’s eyebrows weren’t brushed straight.

He licked his thumbs quickly, and smoothed them out with enough pressure to make Ronan yelp, and Gansey swat at him. He gave Ronan a quick once over, nodding in approval, then turned around and sped up again.

The courthouse was in sight, and good thing too, for he was beginning to feel out of breath, his legs aching. They sprinted the last hundred meters, then both placed their hands on their knees and panted like dogs, regaining their composure before entering.

Gansey took a deep breath before opening the doors, and his shoes made clipping sounds against the marble floor as he entered, Ronan following close behind him.

There was only one room that seemed to be occupied, as there was a security guard posted outside of it, who frowned at them as they walked swiftly over, but then his features smoothed in recognition when he saw Gansey.

“This room is occupied,” he told them, and Ronan made an impatient noise beside him.

“We know—”

“We’re aware, sir,” Gansey said, and the officer preened slightly at being addressed as ‘sir’. “We’re witnesses. For the Parrish case.”

“The doors are closed,” the officer said, not unkindly. “I’m sorry Richard, but the court is in session.”

Gansey thought of Adam, alone in that courtroom, defending himself, not having enough money for a lawyer of attorney. His face set in determination.

“Trust me,” he said, intensely enough for the officer to look surprised. “We’re the witnesses.”

The officer didn’t say a word, only raised the walkie talkie that was clipped onto his waist, looking Gansey and Ronan in the eyes as he spoke into it. ““Bailiff Myly, there are some surprise witnesses here outside the courtroom if you want to clear that with the judge.”

There was a crackle and a hiss on the walkie talkie line as presumably Bailiff Myly passed the message on to whoever was managing the case. There were a few moments of silence where all three of them said nothing, instead opting to suss each other out.

Gansey could feel the tension running through Ronan, even a foot away from each other. And that’s how he knew Ronan did genuinely care about Adam, contrary to what Ronan said.

The walkie talkie hissed again, and a voice spoke from it. “Judge says they’re allowed in.”

The guard raised his eyebrows, and stepped aside, opening the doors for them. They swung open, and Gansey was struck by a moment of panic, but quashed that beneath his desire to see Adam through this.

Everyone was standing, and all swung their heads towards the disturbance. Robert Parrish and his wife were accompanied by a man in a dark suit, and all three of them scowled, Robert most of all, as he recognised Ronan.

Ronan, though, didn’t smirk or grin in a sharklike manner. He kept his head straight on, not stooping as to looking Adam’s awful father in the eyes and starting a ruckus.

It was indeed Judge Harris, and Gansey internally pumped his fist in victory. They walked up to the end of the aisle in sync with one another, and he saw Adam in his peripheral vision, but didn’t dare to look him in the eyes just yet.

He slid his glove off, and held it out for the Judge to shake. Judge Harris took it, his firm grip a comfort. “Judge Harris.”

“Gansey,” he said, smiling, amused. “Have you found that king of yours, yet?”

It was funny that that’s what he was known for in Henrietta. He supposed it was a given, based on the amount of time he spent researching and talking about Glendower. “Not just yet. Have you finished that terrace yet?”

It was a good thing that Gansey was a good listener, and engaged with people whilst they talked.

“Not just yet. What’s your business with this case?” Harris settled back into his judge manner, retiring the pleasantries.

“Ronan Lynch here was at the incident,” he said, gesturing to Ronan beside him. 

Ronan wasn’t hunched over with his hands in his pockets or giving Judge Harris the stink eye, he had cast his mind back to the days where he’d be the respectable Aglionby boy that were on brochures, his hands clasped in front of him, back straight, expression at ease. For Adam.

“I thought his side of the story might be worthy. And I’ve been friends with Adam since day one here in Henrietta, and I’m glad to see this miserable business over. I’d like to be a character witness, if I could.”

Judge Harris nodded, consideringly. “That sounds reasonable.”

“I object,” Robert Parrish said loudly and obnoxiously. Gansey caught sight of Ronan’s fingers twitching in his peripheral, once, then becoming still once more.

Gansey turned to Adam finally, who was staring at them in a mixture of utter amazement and astonishment, and something that was holding him back as well.

 _Okay?_ Gansey said wordlessly, worried that he’d made a huge mistake in hurting Adam’s pride by bursting in here like he owned the place.

He knew that Adam was battling with himself inside his head with so many things to consider; his pride, his dignity, but most of all, Gansey’s friendship.

 _Please_ , Gansey willed. _Please don’t see this as charity. You’re my best friend, I want to help you as best I can._

Adam held his gaze for a moment longer, his expression indecipherable, then broke out into a barely restrained smile and held out his hand to shake.

There was a rush of feeling that shot through him, which felt like someone had handed him a bottle of fizz and he’d drunk all of it, bubbles and happiness flowing through him. Gansey clasped Adam’s hand, which felt sweaty, and shook it hard.

“All right,” Judge Harris said authoritatively. “Let’s get this case under way.”

Gansey shuffled in beside him, and Ronan stood the other side of Adam. Not before lightly touching his shoulder, though, in what seemed to be a friendly gesture, and Adam giving him a softer smile in return.

They all stood together as one unit, ready to face whatever ugliness Adam’s parents were about to throw at them.

**Author's Note:**

> yell @ me on [tumblr!!](https://catarinalosss.tumblr.com) i love comments and kudos so like,,, lmk
> 
> also the register is based on my schools since it’s as pretentious as aglionby skdjfkd,,,,
> 
> ronan: touches adams shoulder in a tender way  
> gansey: hes such a good FRIEND


End file.
